Axion excursions of the landscape during inflation

Gonzalo A. Palma and Walter Riquelme
Phys. Rev. D 96, 023530 – Published 25 July 2017

Abstract

Because of their quantum fluctuations, axion fields had a chance to experience field excursions traversing many minima of their potentials during inflation. We study this situation by analyzing the dynamics of an axion field ψ, present during inflation, with a periodic potential given by v(ψ)=Λ4[1cos(ψ/f)]. By assuming that the vacuum expectation value of the field is stabilized at one of its minima, say, ψ=0, we compute every n-point correlation function of ψ up to first order in Λ4 using the in-in formalism. This computation allows us to identify the distribution function describing the probability of measuring ψ at a particular amplitude during inflation. Because ψ is able to tunnel between the barriers of the potential, we find that the probability distribution function consists of a non-Gaussian multimodal distribution such that the probability of measuring ψ at a minimum of v(ψ) different from ψ=0 increases with time. As a result, at the end of inflation, different patches of the Universe are characterized by different values of the axion field amplitude, leading to important cosmological phenomenology: (a) Isocurvature fluctuations induced by the axion at the end of inflation could be highly non-Gaussian. (b) If the axion defines the strength of standard model couplings, then one is led to a concrete realization of the multiverse. (c) If the axion corresponds to dark matter, one is led to the possibility that, within our observable Universe, dark matter started with a nontrivial initial condition, implying novel signatures for future surveys.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 1 February 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.96.023530

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

  1. Physical Systems
Gravitation, Cosmology & AstrophysicsParticles & Fields

Authors & Affiliations

Gonzalo A. Palma and Walter Riquelme

  • Grupo de Cosmología y Astrofísica Teórica, Departamento de Física, FCFM, Universidad de Chile, Blanco Encalada 2008 Santiago, Chile

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Issue

Vol. 96, Iss. 2 — 15 July 2017

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